Club Five is an elite club of the country's best models, actresses and talented young dancers chosen by an esteemed committee of dance professionals. Five Dancewear celebrates young artists, their ambitions, goals and achievements. Introducing the Club Five members for the 2016-2017 season mentored by professional dancer Alison Stroming.
SOPHIA LUCIA
Sophia Lucia started dancing at the young age of 2 years at San Diego Dance Centre in Poway, CA and is now, flourishing to be one of the most exciting and top talents in the industry. She trains 35 to 40 hours a week in Jazz, Contemporary, Tap and Ballet. Sophia’s focus and determination is leading her to excel in many ways as in setting the New Official Guinness World Record of 55 Consecutive Pirouettes and winning several National Champion Dance Titles. At such a young age, she has been featured in numerous television shows such as ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ Disney’s hit show ‘Shake It Up, ‘Dance Moms,’ ‘X-Factor’ and ‘America’s Got Talent,’ plus several talk shows like ‘The Ellen Show,’ ‘The Ricki Lake Show, to name a few. She made her film debut in 2010 as child star icon, Shirley Temple in the Fox Legacy Movie “The Shirley Temple Story.” Sophia’s ability to captivate an audience with her artistry is one of a kind. Her performances have catapulted her to Internet stardom and taken her across the world to do what she loves most, dance. Sophia is currently training under Slavomir and Irena Wozniak at Master Ballet Academy in Phoenix, AZ.
BRIAR NOLET
Photo Credit: David Walker Photography
Briar Nolet, at only 17 years old, is recognized as one of the top female Contemporary/Jazz dancers in North America. She has earned several National and International Dance Titles, and last year received 1st runner-up as a soloist at the prestigious American Dance Awards in NYC. Briar is very well known for her starring role for five seasons as “Richelle” , a feisty and unbelievably gifted dancer, on the popular tween TV series The Next Step. Briar travelled across Canada starring with The Next Step cast mates on the Big Ticket Summer Concert tour in 2015 and will again be a star performer this year . Earlier this year she toured all across Canada, Europe, Spain, and Ireland as an ensemble star in be "Wild Rhythm Tour" and this fall she is travelling across Australia, Europe, UK, and New Zealand for an part two of this wildly successful tour. Briar is proud to be an alumni of Beat Squad at Dancer Palooza. Briar is thrilled to be named a member of Club Five.
BOSTYN BROWN
Bostyn Brown is a 12 year old dancer from Club Dance in Mesa, AZ. She began dancing at 6 years old and trains in all styles. She is very versatile and has competed in all types of competitions from YAGP to Monsters of Hip Hop! She has appeared on America's Got Talent at Radio City Music Hall, SYTYCD (Top 20) and the Ellen show! She was recently awarded Junior Best Dancer at The Dance Awards in Florida. Bostyn is looking forward to a year of extensive training and new challenges to continually grow as a dancer and an artist.
ELISE MONSON
Elise Monson trains in ballet, contemporary, hip hop, musical theatre, modern, and jazz at Creative Arts Academy. She has multiple first, second, and third place finishes at regional and national competitions such as Jump, NUVO, 24/7, Adrenaline, and The Dance Awards. She was recently in the top 10 for "Best Dancer" at The Dance Awards. She was awarded the silver medal at the Youth American Grand Prix Denver regional. Elise has been accepted and/or attended many summer dance intensives including Complexions Contemporary Ballet Summer Intensive in New York City, Lines Ballet Summer Intensive, Joffery LA Summer Intensive, Generation IV, Ballet West, and Camp Protege. She recently received a full-tuition scholarship to the Ballet West Summer Intensive through the American Ballet Competition. She has worked closely with many contemporary and ballet choreographers, such as, Jason Parsons, Jon Ole Olstad, Chantel Aguirre, Stacey Tookey, Lauren Adams, Teddy Forance, Chebar Williams, Francisco Gella, and many more outstanding teachers. Elise is also a brand ambassador for CLI Studios and was featured as the photo of the day for Dance Spirit Magazine.
ALEXUS OLADI
Photo credit: @jordy_b.photo
Alexus Oladi is an 8 year old dancer that appears on the show Dance Moms. Alexus' nickname is Giggles. Alexus lives in Utah, has a twin brother Alex and dances for the Abby Lee Miller Dance Company in Los Angeles, CA. She won dancer of the year for Hollywood Vibe Dance Convention in 2015 while attending Creative Arts Academy in Bountiful, UT. Her favorite styles of dance to preform are Musical Theater and Jazz. Her favorite thing about dance is the freedom to dance anywhere and anytime. Alexus wants to be a dance teacher when she grows up. Her favorite subject in school is Science and her favorite color is purple. She is very self-motivated and a determined dancer that never gives up!
CASEY TRAN
Casey Tran, born on March 29th, 2006, is a 10 years old dancer from Toronto, Canada. She started dancing in recreational classes when she was 4 years old and was selected to the full time competitive team when she was 5 years old.
Casey has a passion for dance and trains in ballet, jazz, tap, acro, hip hop, lyrical, and contemporary genres at The Dance Zone. She also takes additional classical ballet classes at Canada's National School of Ballet.
The dance season 2015-2016 has been a great one for Casey as she has received several top placements, titles, and awards at regional and national dance conventions and competitions. Her achievements included Miss Petite Bedazzled Dance Champions 2015 and Miss Petite World Dance 2015 2nd Runner Up.
Casey's most recent titles include Mini Female Best Dancer 2nd Runner-Up at The Dance Awards 2016, National Junior Miss Nexstar 2016 & 1st Overall Junior Solo in the 9-11 years old division. Casey also earned scholarships/awards at all the conventions she attended, including Nuvo Mini Female Breakout Artist Winner, 24 Seven Mini Female Non-Stop Dancer Winner, Jump Mini Female VIP Winner, Radix Mini Female Core Performer Winner, NYCDA Mini Female Outstanding Dancer Winner, and VIPDanceEvents Junior VIP All Star Winner.
Casey is a straight A student. Casey loves math and science. When Casey is not dancing, she enjoys experimenting with sciences. She also enjoys making music.ly videos and loves to improv to random music.
Diana Sofia is 10 yrs old and began dancing at age 4. She loves all styles of dance and trains in ballet, contemporary, pointe, jazz, tap, hiphop, lyrical, modern, ballroom, and gymnastics. Diana
dances at Stars Dance Studio in Miami, under the direction of Victor Smalley and Angel Armas.
Diana began dancing competitively at age 7, and since she has earned multiple regional and national titles, some of which include Miss Petite at KARS 2014, On Stage America 2014, Miss Shake The Ground 2015, National Title winner at American Dance Awards 2015. She is a bronze medalist at ADC/IBC Youth American Ballet Competition 2015, and 1st place overall winner at Universal Ballet Competition. Diana has earned multiple scholarships and awards including the Capezio Award of Excellence for outstanding performance and technical excellence, JUMP VIP Winner, Art of Movement, Closeup Experience, 24/7 NonStop Winner, NYCDA Mini Outstanding Dancer Winner. She has been the youngest assistant at Masters of Ballet in Orlando, and in the summer of 2015 she was selected as the youngest assistant for Artists Simply Human (ASH) and toured with faculty all throughout the USA for the 20152016 season, assisting in all styles of dance. Diana also earned the Prodigy Assistant title at NRG Dance Project and was recently invited to be IAF Kid for I am Force Studios.
In the fall of 2015 Diana was casted by Broadway and Cirque Dreams Director, Neil Goldberg, for the 100 year Broward live performance at the Broward Center of Performing Arts: WeThe Passion & Rhythm of the People. Diana’s most recent accomplishments include being selected as top 30 finalist at The Academy for Fox TV show “So You Think You Can DanceThe Next Generation,” as well as winning Mini Female Dancer at the Dance Awards, Orlando, FL.
Diana loves outdoor activities such as fishing, going to the beach, roller blading and horseback riding. She also loves cooking and playing with her pet ferret Gizmo and her two dogs, Luna and
Tinki. Diana loves to sing, act and model, and is excited to be a part of Club 5.
KENEDY KALLAS
Kenedy Kallas is 16 years old. She is from Draper, Utah. She is currently training at Ballet West Academy in the Professional Training Division. In this past year Kenedy has had the opportunity to perform on many stages throughout the world. She and her partner performed in St. Petersburg, Russia at the Mariinsky Theater during the Choreographic Festival. She also performed in the “Stars of Today meet Stars of Tomorrow Gala” at the Lincoln Center in New York City and at the Gala de Danza in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. She currently inspired a new project called Project Protégé under the guidance and artistic direction of Josie Walsh in which she will perform in upcoming Galas this year. Kenedy is attending San Francisco Ballet School Summer intensive under full scholarship. Kenedy won the prestigious Natalia Makorova Award at the YAGP finals this past spring. Photo credit: @leegumbsphotography
HANNAH WEBB
Hannah Webb is a 10 year old dancer, model and actress from the St. Louis area. She trains 5 days a week in jazz, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop and tap. She successfully earned scholarships this year at NUVO, Jump, Radix, Adrenaline, Velocity, and also became a Camp Pulse Counselor. This season Hannah brought home 6 first place wins and won the Battle Royale at Pulse St. Louis. She also brought home her 5th national title and win. Aside from dance you can see Hannah in advertisements for major national retailors. She is a straight A student and enjoys traveling. Hannah is also active in her church and enjoys community service at the Ronald McDonald House for families of sick children. Hannah hopes to continue her dance training and one day develop her own dance convention
TALIA SEITEL
Talia Seitel began dancing at the age of 2. She has been training competitively at Murrieta Dance Project for 10 years. Her training includes attending conventions such as Jump, Nuvo, 24/7, NYCDA, Art of Movement, West Coast Dance Explosion and the Dance Awards. Her Summer training has included The Collective, GenerationIV Dance, Joffrey Ballet Dallas and most recently Camp Protege. She has been a featured performer and guest dancer on Dance Moms, and competed on the web series Teen Dance Challenge.She is currently continuing her training at MDP and is a member of Westside Dance Project Performance Company. Talia is also on her high school dance team at Vista Murrieta High School where she is currently a sophomore and maintains a 4.14 GPA. She is a featured assistant for Art of Movement Dance Convention, a CLI Studios Brand Ambassador, a member of Artists Giving Hope and is a model for the Pearl Yukiko clothing line. Talia hopes to pursue dance in College and someday dance for a professional company.
OLIVIA TAYLOR
Olivia Taylor is an 11 year old dancer from Evansville, Indiana. She took her first dance class when she was 2 years old and she has been dancing ever since. Olivia trains in classical ballet at Studio 321 in addition to studying jazz, tap, acro, musical theater, lyrical and contemporary genres at THR!VE Dance Company. Olivia has admired Alison Stroming ever since she first watched her perform live with the Dance Theater of Harlem and hung out with her back stage 2 years ago. She is truly honored to have this opportunity to work with and be mentored by Alison.
Olivia has received numerous top placements, titles, scholarships and awards at regional and national dance competitions as well as being named Petite Miss World Dance at the World Dance Pageant. Her most recent titles include Junior Miss KAR, Junior Miss Platinum, and Junior Miss Nexstar. This year she met her goal of earning a scholarship at every convention including Jump VIP, Nuvo Breakout Artist, Radix Core Performer, 24 Seven Non-Stop Dancer, Hollywood Connection Icon, ASH Apprentice, and Adrenaline Performance Crew. The season ended at the Artists Simply Human (ASH) nationals held in Orlando with Olivia earning an ASH Assistant position for the 2016-17 season. She is extremely excited to go on tour with the talented ASH Assistants and Faculty.
Olivia began modeling when she was 8 years old and she was thrilled to be selected to model for Jordan Matter's "Tiny Dancers Among Us" book as well as the upcoming "Dance Across The USA" book. Olivia is a straight "A" student who loves math, pepperoni pizza, and chocolate chip cookies. When she's not dancing, she enjoys making Musical.ly videos, hanging with her friends, and cheering with her middle school cheer squad.
KAYLA MAK
Kayla Mak was born on Feburary 11th, 2003 in Westchester NY. She is of Japanese, Chinese, and Cuban origin. Kayla started dancing at age of 3 and she is currently studying ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, hip-hop and tap at Westchester Dance Academy in Mount Kisco NY. She currently attends middle school in Blind Brook. Kayla was awarded the role as Clara at The Purchase College School of Arts in 2010. She was fortunate to perform at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular for 2 consecutive seasons as Clara. Kayla also received numerous awards such as New York City Dance Alliance 2012, American Dance Awards 2012, The Dance Awards 2014, Youth America Grand Prix (Hope Award) 2015, Onstage NY 2015, This year, she was 2nd runner up for The Dance Awards. She was also selected to be in Ellen DeGeneres Show as one of Dancerpalooza dancers.
OLIVIA BELL
Olivia Bell is 12 years old and studies ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, contemporary, tap, voice, and acting in the pre-professional training program at The Dallas Conservatory under the direction of Ms. Jacqueline Porter.
Olivia has won many first place solo titles and has been awarded numerous scholarships to dance conventions and intensives. She won the prestigious Hope Award at the 2016 Youth America Grand Prix in Dallas, was named a national finalist in the After School Awards, was recognized as one of the Top 15 Mini Outstanding Dancers in the country by New York City Dance Alliance, named to the “5 to Watch” list by Brown Girls Do Ballet, and selected and photographed for Jordan Matter’s, “Tiny Dancers Among Us” project and for the Brown Girls Do Ballet 2017 Calendar. She is also an Ambassador for Brown Girls Do Ballet, an organization devoted to helping increase participation of minorities in ballet and providing more opportunities for dancers of color. Olivia has been featured on
The Huffington Post in an article titled, “This 11-Year-Old Ballerina Dancing To ‘Hamilton’ Is Your New Hero, in
The Dallas Morning News, as a “Girl of Adventure” by ivivva, and in marketing campaigns for Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts and Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Olivia has attended Summer Intensives at Dance Theatre of Harlem, American Ballet Theatre, and The Ailey School, the official school of the world renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. Although Olivia began dancing when she was just 2 years old, her interest in classical ballet was awakened in 2014 after seeing Dance Theatre of Harlem perform live. Captivated by their performance and inspired to deepen her training in ballet, she auditioned and was accepted on scholarship to Dance Theatre of Harlem’s summer intensive. She is thrilled to now have Alison Stroming of Dance Theatre of Harlem as a mentor.
Olivia hopes to one day become a professional dancer and choreographer, and she would also like to perform on Broadway.
ARIANA MCCLURE
Ariana McClure is 16 years old and trains at Danceology Performing Arts Campus in San Diego, Ca. She has been dancing since she was 2 years old and trains in ballet, contemporary, lyrical, jazz and hip hop. She has won multiple scholarships and placed in the top three in many regional and national competitions such as JUMP, NUVO, 24/7 and the Dance Awards. Her summer training has included The Collective, Generation IV Dance, and most recently Camp Protégé. From 2011-2014 she also trained and performed with Westside Dance Project Performance Company. She has modeled for Discount Dance as well as filmed multiple regional and national commercials including Leap Frog Toys, Kraft Mac and Cheese, and McDonalds. Ariana is a Jr. at Cathedral Catholic High School and on the Varsity Dance Team. In 2014, she won the national West Coast Elite Dance Freshman soloist title and in 2015 she won the national West Coast Elite Dance Sophomore soloist title. Earlier this year, Ariana performed with DancerPalooza on the Ellen Degeneres show and is very excited to perform as a member of the 2016 DancerPalooza Beat Squad. When she is not dancing, she loves to hang out at the beach with her friends.
RYAN NOGY
Ryan Nogy is a 15 year old dancer, model, and actress from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. She currently dances at Dance Mechanics in Alison Park, PA. She has been dancing for 11 years and she loves to choreograph. Her favorite style of dance is Contemporary. Ryan was an 2013-2014 ASH (Artists Simply Human) assistant. She has won numerous overall dance awards and choreography awards including 2016 Pittsburgh Regional Dancer of the Year, First Overall Teen soloist at Hollywood Vibe, choreography award at VIP Dance for her solo "Black", and True Performer scholarship recipient at Intrigue Dance Convention. Fun fact: Ryan is obsessed with cute animals and peanut butter ice cream.
MIA MAXWELL
Mia Maxwell lives in Denver, CO and has trained at Michelle Latimer Dance Academy since she was 4 years old. She is an emerging artist who loves being inspired by her mentors. Mia loves where dance has allowed her to travel and the opportunities it’s presented. She is currently represented by MSA Talent Agency in Los Angeles and she was most recently seen on "The Ellen Show" and as a Finalist for "SYTYCD: Next Generation" on Fox. Mia is a representative for CLI Studios and was photographed for Jordan Matter's "Tiny Dancers Among Us". Mia is incredibly honored to be a member of Club Five!